Footrest



Oct. 6, 1953 RQGERS 2,654,420

FOOTREST Filed May 21, 1951 INVENTOR. [ESTA-7? A. Foams Patented Oct. 6,1953 U N I T ED STATES FATE-N T' F-"F'I CE FOOTRESI;

'Lest'er'R; Rogers, Butte, Mont.

Application May 2-1, 1951-,:S-'e1:iaL1No-..:22f7;,490

(Cl. 155 1.69I).

ZCl'aims; 1.

This invention relates, to. foot rests, and particularly foot rests ofthe type. usable. by a, passenger in an automobile.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a foot rest forthecomfort of persons whose legs may not be long enoughv to reach .thefront or inclined portion of. the floor board. Another object is toprovide sucha foot rest the slope, of which may be adjusted to suit. theconvenience of the user or. the shape of the fioor board.

Myv novel construction comprises a sloping foot board provided with legsor footings. adapted to hold thefoot board, spaced at. a desireddistance from the floor or front end of the. seating space.

A preferred feature is the provision ofmeans to accommodate the footrest .to sloping floorsofan automobile.

The: invention will. be better understood from the following detaileddescription and the accompanying drawing of: which;

Fig. 1 shows a side view, partly in..cross-section, of the front floorportion ofthe front seat space of an automobile in which there is placeda foot rest according to-this invention;

Fig. 2-is an-isometri'c view of the arrangement shown in Fig. 1-;

F 3 1 a front view ofthe-arrangementshown in-Figs; land 2';

Fig. 4 shows a detail used'in the construction of Figs. 2and 3;

Fig. 5 is a side view, partially in-section, showing another embodimentof my invention;

Fig. 6 shows a front view'of the arrangement of; Fig. 5;.

Fig. '7 is a side-view, partially'in section; showing the foot rest ofFig. 5 held in an unused position;

Fig. 8 shows a front view of the arrangement of Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a side view, partially in section, showing anothermodification according to my invention; and

Fig. 10 shows a front view of the arrangement according to Fig. 9.

Referring to the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 4 in the drawing, there isshown part of the forward passenger section of an automobile at theright of the drivers seat. This includes the floor In, the inclinedtoeboard l l near the front of the compartment and the vertical cowl l2which extends up to a position back of the dashboard. The foot restcomprises a plate or platform [3 mounted on three footing members l4, l5and It. The side footings l4 and It may be strips of wood or the likesuitably fastened to the side edges of the-platform 13;; and the centerfooting I 5" may be a similar strip-fitted to" the under sideoftheplatform I-13.-. The surface of platform I231 may if desired; becovered with rubber sheeting 0r. thaliklesand held: at the center by athin-strip Asish'ovvn in Fig l, thecfootings M; 15 and-t6 areshaped-scithat-theebottomHief each footing will rest substantially flaton the fioorboard it (except as the shimsg-mentionedbelow. are placedtherebetween) and the upper point or-corner l9 f each. footinggwill reston the incline: l- I thereby leaving a-..sli ght space an. under mostofthe length of the'cfnoting. and.- the floor. portion. H This. enablesthe. footing tobfind' its own proper position at which it vfirmly rests,

In present: day automobiles, the'floor generally slopes: down: to thesides of the vehicle from a raised; central; portion: which runslongitudinally along theicenterrofythe car; nd-for this reason the;footingsswouldirnot nrdinarilyall restfiat on the floor-whentherrfoottrest-is placed-in its proper position, Instead;:ifieachfooting should extend for the: samadistance below the bottom ofthe foot rest: there: would be spaces between each footing and the?floor-excepting the footing nearestxthecenterrwhichwould rest on thefloor. In accordance with the arrangement-shown. means is provided; forfilling; :theseqspaoes. The means comprises; arr arrangement of shimswhich can bamouedrintoor-ont;of position as: needed. On the neutral:footing: l.5.- there are. shown three shims :127., ;2=3 and12,4%; randonthe. righthand foot- ,lfiitheneaare shown-four shims 25, 2,6, 2.]. and.551. Fern-the purpose of: holding the shims, .one sideof each footingisproVidedi with a pair. of members 28 and 29 having through them .a pin3'!) on which there are pivoted the arms 3! carrying the respectiveshims at their ends. The arrangement is such that the shim arms can bepivoted upwardly as shown at 24 and 55 and thus removed from under thefootings; and when de= sired they can be pivoted downwardly to be placedin position under the footings. In this way any desired number of shimscan be placed under the footings l5 and I6 and thus compensate for theslope of the flooring.

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 show another embodiment of the invention in which thefoot rest may be itself pivoted upwardly and out of the way whendesired. For this purpose the platform 35 of the foot rest is hinged atits upper edge to a hinge 36 attached to a bracket 31 fastened to thevertical cowl wall 12 of the automobile. A number of legs 38 areattached to the under side of the plats form and provided with footings39 adapted to rest on the slanting toe board ll. These legs are of theproper length to hold the platform at the desired distance in front ofthe board H.

When it is desired to move the foot rest out of use it is pivoted on thehinge 36 to an upward position as shown in Fig. 7 and snapped under aspring retainer 40 secured to the wall [2.

Figs. 9 and 10 show a further modification of a foot rest according tomy invention. In this arrangement the incline of the foot rest isadjustable from the dashboard 4| of the car. The foot rest platform 42is hinged near its lower end to a hinge 43 mounted on a bracket orfooting 44 supported from the floor. Beneath the upper end of theplatform 42 there is provided a board 45 hinged at 46 to a supportattached to the member 12 of the vehicle. A flexible wire or lead 4'! isfastened at 48 to the board 45 and carried up over a pulley wheel 49freely rotatable on a pin 50 held in a bracket 5| mounted on member l2back of the dashboard. From the pulley, the lead 41 is carried backthrough a bushing 5i through the dashboard to a handle or knob 52. Bypushing or pulling the knob 52 in and out the angle of the board 45 iscorrespondingly varied, which varies the incline of the foot rest 42which it supports. The friction between the lead 41 and the bushing 5|will serve to hold the board 45 in any desired position.

It should be recognized that by my invention I have provided a foot restwhich is especially adapted for enhancing the comfort of persons ridingin an automobile, particularly shortlegged persons riding in the frontseat next to a long-legged driver. The construction of my foot restenables it to maintain a satisfactory foot area and also to maintainsubstantially the same incline as is originally built into the toeboardof the automobile for comfortable riding. In this respect, my foot restis an advantage over other types which have been proposed which do notmaintain the same desired incline. It will be recognized that my footrest units can be made of suitable material such as plastic, aluminum orpressed steel. If desired, particularly in the case of metal models, thesurface may be covered with rubber matting or the like.

It will be further understood that the foot rest can be made in a numberof different thicknesses providing different distances from thetoeboard. For example, a model may be made giving a distance of abouttwo inches from the toeboard, another of about four inches and anotherof about six inches. These different dimensions should provide a desiredrange of distances.

I claim:

1. A foot rest adapted to be placed at the floor and toeboard of anautomobile wherein the floor slopes downward from the center toward theside of the automobile, said foot-rest comprising a platform and aplurality of footing means attached beneath the platform and supportingthe platform at a position substantially parallel and spaced from thetoeboard, one of said footing means being nearer to the side of theautomobile than another, and shim means connected with said lastmentioned footing means, said shim means comprising a plurality of shimseach of which is mounted on an arm pivoted to said last mentionedfooting means and adapted to be swung into and out of position beneathsaid lastmentioned footing means, the arms being arranged so that when aplurality of the shims are swung into position beneath the footing meansthe shims are located one under another.

2. A foot rest adapted to be placed at the floor and toeboard of anautomobile wherein the floor slopes downward from the center toward theside of the automobile, said foot rest comprising a platform and aplurality of footing means attached beneath the platform and supportingthe platform at a position substantially parallel and spaced from thetoeboard, one of said footing means being nearer to the side of theautomobile than another, and shim means connected with said footingmeans which is nearer to the side, providing a shim between the bottomof the last-mentioned footing means and the floor, said shim meanscomprising a plurality of shims each of which is mounted on an armpivoted to the footing and adapted to be swung into and out of positionbeneath the footing.

, LESTER R. ROGERS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FranceJuly 9, 1928

